Archive for 2015

United States Army aviator’s non-regulation “wings” badge (.1) in box (.2). The wings are hand-made of cast silver with a pin fastener on the back, which is stamped “STERLING / WING”. The box exterior is black leather, with black velvet interior. Worn by Major Harold Melville Clark of Saint Paul, Minnesota, for whom Clark Field in Luzon, Philippines is named. Circa 1918.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view these wings in our collections database.

A monument formerly located in Itasca State Park, marking the origin of the Mississippi River at the outlet of Lake Itasca in Minnesota. The monument consists of a partial tree trunk with a flat rectangular surface cut out on one side. Carved into the flat surface, and painted brilliant orange yellow, is: “HERE 1475 FT / ABOVE / THE OCEAN / THE MIGHTY / MISSISSIPPI / BEGINS / TO FLOW / ON ITS / WINDING WAY / 2552 MILES / TO THE / GULF / OF MEXICO.” Circa 1975-1988.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this sign in our collections database.

Tooled leather open top revolver holster used by John B. Sanborn. Sanborn was a member of the Congressional-appointed Indian Peace Commission and served in both the Minnesota State House and the Senate. Probably from the 1870s.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this holster in our collections database.

The last home plate used for baseball games at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota, before the stadium’s demolition. The plate was used during amateur and youth baseball games between 2010 and 2013. The professional baseball franchise, the Minnesota Twins, left the “Dome” for their new home at Target Field in 2010 and took their final home plate to the new ballpark.

For more information or to purchase a photograph of this item, view this home plate in our collections database.

This year, 2015, is the centenary of the foundation of the Nonpartisan League (NPL). The NPL was founded in the American Midwest and arose out of the cooperative movement popular here. It was a farmer-based movement offering an alternate vision of capitalism, one in which the state would compete with the monopolies that were exploiting the small producers.

The NPL practically invented grass roots organizing, and would support candidates from either party who supported its platform (hence “nonpartisan”). The League advocated for economic reforms to help farmers who were being exploited by business interests, such as grain elevators, stockyards, and other middlemen. “We’ll stick” was the group’s rallying cry, as seen on the pennant below.

The NPL was in operation in 13 states as well as Canada, but it met with its greatest success in North Dakota and Minnesota. This is an image of Minnesota members in 1917.

Pamphlets and newspapers played a hugely important role in the development of the movement, leading to corresponding anti-NPL pamphlets. While not as immediate as our instant commentaries of today, these pamphlets were a quick way to make arguments heard. The rise of the NPL was also one of the earliest political movements to be heavily photographed; seen here are members with The Nonpartisan Leader.

World War I brought about suspicions of the potentially socialist nature of the NPL, which was followed by prosperity in the 1920s for farmers. These two occurrences took away much of the need for the NPL. It eventually developed into the Farmer-Labor party in Minnesota, which later merged with the Democrats. The Democratic Party in Minnesota is still known as the DFL.